“There was an LEO who used to sit at the bottom of a I-85 hill in NC.”
They’re sill there.
Sheriff’s in counties with interstates that are drug corridors have jumped on the profiling wagon and routinely pull out of state plates for “unsafe lane change” and bring in the dogs to sniff around. A couple of times a year they find enough drugs/cash/seizure material to fund the annual BBQ and buy new toys for the dept.
One south/east police gang was scoring a big flow of drugs on the highway. Then they figured out that if they patrol the other direction, they would score a big flow of cash. They get to keep some of the cash. Guess which direction they patrol, in order to protect the children?
One quick fix: have the state pass a law that all traffic/speeding fines go into the state general fund, as well as all drug-bust proceeds.
As long as the police dept directly profits and benefits from certain types of arrests, then that is all they will have interest in. When their budget comes exclusively from what the taxpayers allocate to them, then and only then will they put their focus back on dealing with the crimes that the electorate want them to focus on.